As she passed Paul's door she stopped and stood leaning her forehead against the casement for some minutes.

At last she knelt and pressed her lips to the threshold, and, choking down a sob, went on downstairs.

As she passed through the sitting-room she paused a moment before the picture.

"Forgive me," she whispered, looking up at the dimly visible face of Ida Ludington, and passed on.

Unfastening a window that opened upon the piazza, she stepped forth and closed it behind her.
At the first light sound of her feet upon the walk, the mastiff that guarded the house bounded up to her, and seeing who it was, licked her hand.